Dead Man Walking
by Sniper in the Dark
Summary: "According to records on file, Naruto Uzumaki was reported KIA while on the mission to bring back Sasuke Uchiha, is that right?" "Yes, that's correct." "Well, it doesn't look like he's KIA anymore."
1. Prologue

"Naruto!" Sasuke roared as he charged with his jet black-chidori.

"Sasuke!" His blond opponent yelled as he charged with a blood-red rasengan.

As the two attacks collided in an explosion of chaotic, evil energy a dark orb formed, of which nothing, not even light, could reach into.

The two attacks were dead even in their ferocity, chidori's pre-eminent piercing power against the vortex of raw fury of the rasengan. To break the deadlock that he knew would not end in anyone's favor, Sasuke brought his hand forward and went to deal the killing-blow. Seeing this, Naruto raised his own spare arm and it shot forward too, intent on meeting this attack head-on, as well.

As the ball of dark energy finally faded away, Sasuke was on his knees clutching where Naruto struck him in horrible agony and Naruto wasn't moving at all. Several minutes went by and nothing changed until Sasuke finally got a grip and could see straight enough to look at his handiwork. He had a look of sadness on his face as one hand still held where Naruto landed his apparently final-blow before he climbed to his feet and continued on to Orochimaru and the promise of power great enough to kill _him_.

As Sasuke left the weather took a turn for the worse as it appeared that even the heavens themselves wept for Naruto's death. The rain rapidly became a storm and that storm brought something back with it, the waterfall. As Kakashi finally arrived on the scene with Pakkun all he saw was rain and water, catching a glimpse of something shiny.

The man dived into the rushing water's, much to his companion's protest, in hopes of finding and rescuing his students, but it was not to be. As Kakashi came up after what felt like far too long, struggling for breath as he held onto the edge of the river. Pakkun gripped one of Kakashi's sleeves in his teeth and pulled as hard as he could, Kakashi weakly hoisting himself up and out of the water as he breathed heavily, yanking his mask down as he layed on his back and stared at the sky.

"Did you find anything down there," Pakkun asked as he sat next to the gray-haired man. Kakashi just ripped off his headband and glared with both eyes up into the raining sky, gritting his teeth tightly. He said nothing, just glared up at the sky in hatred and silence while Pakkun waited.

* * *

It was late when Kakashi finally got back to the village, and by then most of the people in it were asleep. Only a handful of people stood at the village gates now, apart from the gate guards, and waited for him to show. Sakura had not left her spot at the gates since she had seen the retrieval team off almost twelve hours ago. Ino had only departed to go get an umbrella for her and her rival when it began to rain and faithfully stood by her side since then.

Joining the two girls were Tsunade and Shizune, the latter also holding up an umbrella for the blonde woman as they both waited for Kakashi's return. The last of the group was Jiraiya, standing in the rain without a care that he was pelted while he waited for news of the mission, more for his godson then for that little weasel of an Uchiha boy.

"Well, Kakashi, what did you find?" Tsunade asked, stepping forward. Kakashi stood alone in the rain facing the five people, long since dismissing Pakkun, face once again hidden behind mask and headband. He glared harshly at the Lady Hokage before reaching into his ninja pouch. A random lightning bolt struck behind him, letting the piece of metal he held glint in the light.

Some members tensed, thinking he was actually out of it enough to attack them, but the reality was going to be far more horrifying. Kakashi threw the metal object at Tsunade's feet, landing in a small mud puddle. The blonde woman picked it up and wiped away what she could. It was a headband, a horribly mangled headband that was hardly even recognizable. "Uchiha... Sasuke."

Everyone eyes snapped to Kakashi, but he just stood there in the rain. Sakura was in hysterics and Ino was not much better off, Tsunade tried asking what happened but everyone was cut off as Jiraiya shouted over the growing storm, "Where is Naruto, what happened to him?!" All eyes were on Kakashi again, now hoping that this was some sick joke, but they all saw what he pulled out next and wished they hadn't.

Another headband landed at Tsunade's feet, this one pristine in it's glory like it was still brand-spanking-new. Shaking hands reached for this one and held it like the owner of the hands couldn't believe it was real. "Uzumaki... Naruto!" Another lightning bolt struck.

* * *

Just as that second lightning bolt struck, many miles away, a hand ripped out of rushing waters and tightly gripped the rock. A body slowly followed the hand out of the water as it pulled itself slowly onto dry land. One way, then the other, it looked everywhere before down at itself. A hand pulled at rags around a hole in the cloth where it should cover the heart. It looked through the hole in the cloth, right through it's flesh as it stared at where a heart should be.

It said nothing for a long time, but watched as the wound healed until the hole completely closed within seconds. It then looked about again, wondering where or even what it was. It had no memories of anything before now, only that it woke up in the river. It stared up at the sky as rain splashed onto it's face and ran down it's cheeks. All it felt was cold, nothing but cold.

Then something changed, it felt something. The _thing_ or whatever it was clutched it's chest and collapsed to it's knees. It breathed raggedly for several minutes before it relaxed and let it's hands fall from it's chest into it's lap and looked up once again. The thing gritted it's teeth before letting out an enormous scream, one so powerful it tore it's lung apart and blew it's vocal cords to pieces. The scream resonated with the thunder that followed the lightning bolt and echoed for miles as the thing finally stood and began walking, it's lungs and vocal cords already healed.

* * *

**Hello, everyone. This is my newest story project, which I think I've made sound pretty interesting so far.**

**For those of you who can't tell, in this story Naruto has not only failed to bring Sasuke back, but has also failed to return himself and is presumed KIA. I'm not saying whether or not Naruto did die, but if he did he's not doing a good job of staying that way. That is, if that's Naruto. Dun dun duunnn!**


	2. Chapter 1

Its been two-and-a-half years since Sasuke left the village and Naruto was reported as KIA. The weather today reminded Sakura of that day perfectly as she stalked through the shadows in the woods, kunai in hand. Rain poured down hard and matted her chin-length hair against her forehead and made her grip on the throwing knife slippery as dark storm clouds raged overhead.

She saw a person's shape pass by ahead of her and knew for a fact, without an inkling of doubt in her mind, who it was, Sasuke Uchiha. She crept slowly from tree to tree, emerald eyes now locked on the figure she'd come to loathe ever since that day he abandoned the village, taking the life of their teammate and friend with him when he left. She gripped the kunai tighter as she waited on one side of a particularly thick tree as she heard him pass right by her before she sprung.

She had to roll out of the way immediately as a sword cut deeply into the wood of the tree where she would have been if she hadn't moved, right at eye level. Her hand shot out and gripped the one that held his sword and her other hand, the one gripping the kunai, shot out and tried to slice his arm from wrist to elbow. His own free hand shot out and stopped the kunai inches from cutting into his skin, incapacitating her.

Sakura brought her leg up and slammed her knee into their interlocked arms, bringing their locked limbs up above their heads as she put her boot on his stomach and kicked off. Sasuke would've been sent flying by that, but had focused his chakra into his feet and skidded along the ground. Sakura used all of her strength to hurl her kunai at him with as much force as possible, the piece of metal flying at subsonic speeds right on target.

Sasuke raised his sword to block as he finally skidded to a stop right into a tree, the impact jarring him enough to throw off his aim and the ninja weapon to bury itself in his sternum. Sakura didn't give him any time to react as she spun around using the torque from her throw and sunk into a runner's crouch before shooting forward. Her hand closed into a fist so hard that her knuckles popped and she ducked low under his weak swing before punching the ring end of her kunai, pushing through his sternum, the tree, and out the back.

Sakura gasped for breath as she held her hand against the hole she'd made in Sasuke's chest as he slumped forward, dying slowly. "S-Sakura."

Whatever part of her that hadn't gone numb from the rain went cold right then, that wasn't Sasuke's voice. Her eyes slowly traveled to the unmoving head of the person as it rested on her shoulder, blood slowly leaking from the mouth. A bolt of lightning illuminated the person's face, but it wasn't Sasuke. Naruto's cold, unblinking eyes stared right at her, blood dripping down onto her face as she stared in horror.

* * *

Sakura woke up screaming, looking around wildly as she tried to focus. It took several minutes before she calmed down enough to realize that she was in her room. One hand came up to her face and rested against her forehead as she layed back down. "Just another dream," she muttered as she closed her eyes for a moment.

She was up, showered, and all clean a half-hour later as she finished up her morning rituals before starting her day. She took one last glance at herself in the mirror, thinking about that dream again, before smashing the mirror. She walked out and locked the door to her apartment and looked up for a moment. The sky was sunny and clear today. "Yeah, just a dream."

* * *

Sakura walked down the hall to the Hokage's office to hear about something from Tsunade-sama, probably a mission where a medic was needed. She couldn't think of any other reason as she quietly opened the door to Lady Tsunade's office and stepped into the room.

Tsunade Senju, Shizune, and Kakashi Hatake all turned to look at her as Sakura closed the door behind her and walked to the center of the room. "Is there something you wanted to see me about, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked in a formal-tone. "Yes, Sakura, there is," Tsunade affirmed as she shuffled some papers into a folder and slid them to the side before folding her fingers together.

Several moments of silence passed as everyone in the room simply stared at her before she couldn't wait anymore, "What?" "You don't look well, Sakura," Kakashi spoke up before falling silent again. "You seem a bit unhealthy," Shizune put in.

"I'm fine," Sakura ground through her teeth. And she was! She was eating right, trained frequently, and the last time she'd been sick was with a 24-hour cold. And that was four months ago! Was it her appearance? She glanced down at herself and cast that thought aside, she looked perfectly fine. What was the problem? "How have you been sleeping, Sakura?" Tsunade asked, blindsiding her with the one question she didn't want to be asked.

"Why am I here, Tsunade-sama?" Trembling in contained rage, "I doubt my sleeping habits are of that much concern." Tsunade sighed in annoyance, "No, they are not." She pulled the folder she previously set aside to herself and reached out for Sakura to take it. The girl took it from the older woman's hand and opened it, greeted by several files and a photo.

"According to records, Naruto Uzumaki was reported KIA while on the mission to bring back Sasuke Uchiha, is that right?" Tsunade asked. "Yes, that's correct." Sakura whispered quietly, eyes glued on the contents of the folder. "Well, it doesn't look he's KIA anymore."

Sakura barely heard a word, her eyes were glued on the photo. The photo of Naruto Uzumaki, what he would've looked like if he were still alive.

* * *

Sakura was packing a bag for her new mission as she turned to look at the photo of Naruto that Tsunade gave her from the folder and went back to packing. The photo had been taken by a member of the Anbu black-ops who had recognized Naruto while on a mission abroad. Only half of his face was shown, but it was definitely him.

The whisker marks were less noticeable now, the hair was a mess, and he was wearing a thick brown coat. He had frown on his face and he wasn't wearing his headband either. Other than those few arbitrary wardrobe changes he still looked the same as when she last saw him in person, so much the same it was scary.

Sakura zipped up the bag and slung it over her shoulder as she walked out and locked her door behind her, holding onto the photo tight. She turned around and headed to the village gates to meet up with Kakashi-sensei. She arrived to also find someone she hadn't expected to see and was actually hoping wouldn't be there.

Kakashi and the mystery person turned towards Sakura as she approached. Kakashi smiled at her as she arrived, "Ah, hello there, Sakura." Sakura stopped when she reached the group, "Hello, Kakashi-sensei... Um, what is she doing here?" Kakashi seemed as if any vitality he had just seconds before was gone in an instant. "She is going to be our teammate on this mission, Sakura."

'_Crap_,' the girl thought as the third group-member took a step forward. "So, this isn't some sick joke after all, he is alive." Sakura nodded, "Yeah, and we have to bring him back." Hinata Hyuuga looked at her a second longer before turning around and they walked to Kakashi's side before leaving the village.

* * *

"Run!" A small group of people were inside of a dark tunnel and were making a frantic dash for the exit, running with ninja-swiftness as they narrowly avoided falling rocks and stone as the roof collapsed. Despite the fact that a single one of the big rocks could crush them into paste, or even brained to death by a small one, the many falling tons of stone were not what they ran from. What they were running from was right behind them, hot on their heels. They managed to reach the end of the cave mere seconds before their enemy and leapt through to safety. Two of the shinobi had the presence of mind to turn in midair and launch a massive fireball, enhanced even further by a fierce gust of wind, at the roof of the cave. Massive rocks came down right on top of their adversary before crashing, hopefully crushing him, but at least cutting them off from the ninja.

Several moments of tension passed as the sound of falling rocks faded before the shinobi began to relax, several more before they began to breathe easy. "Whoo," exclaimed one of the ninja loudly, "_that_ was a close one." A kunoichi several feet away glanced at the small mountain of rock and stone nervously, "Think he's dead?" "Duh," the noisy shinobi retorted, "he had, like, 200 tons of dirt dropped on his head. I guarantee he's dead!" The ninja walked up and slapped the large pile of rubble, as if to prove a point, and grinned widely as he leaned against it. "Looks like we won't be seeing him again."

The rather loud ninja was not smiling for long when suddenly, through stone and flesh, a hand ripped right through his chest. Blood poured out of the wound and out of his mouth as the hand was followed by the whole arm, holding the wounded man tight as it yanked him back through the small hole. The remaining ninja stood and scrambled away in terror, but it was pointless. The rock wall exploded outward, so loud and so strong that the massive boulders were pulverized into dust and the shinobi were temporarily deaf.

A figure stepped through the thick cloud, unnoticed by the shinobi team as they stumbled about, coated in the blood of his victim and dust from the cloud. The figure's presence could not be heard, not by the deaf, and could not be seen, not through the dust. The unknown killer casually walked up to each ninja and they all fell, one by one.

As the dust settled, only one of the group was left, hearing only just returning, surrounded by the dead. The terrified ninja drew a kunai shakedly, "S-stay away." The figure, standing mere feet away, turned to the cowering shinobi and strode towards her. A kunai sailed towards him, hitting him right in the center of the chest, a fatal wound. The figure stumbled back several steps before looking down at the kunai, then at the kunoichi in slight irritation, before walking towards her again.

The young woman shook her head in disbelief, petrified. " Why are you doing this?" she whispered before shouting out, "What did we do to you?!" She slammed her mouth shut and didn't make a sound as the figure stood over her, then she saw nothing.

* * *

The unknown person shook his hand as he stood over the unconscious kunoichi, "You didn't do anything to me." He bent down and took a large bag, looking through its contents. "But you did take something you weren't supposed to." Finding what he was looking for, the figure ripped off a sleeve from one of the less bloody corpses and wiped his face off before slinging the bag strap over his shoulder. His heterochromia eyes, one light blue and one dark blue, glanced back at the pile of defeated ninja with passing interest before walking off. He paused briefly to look down at the kunai still embedded in his chest, a look a surprise crossing his face like he'd forgotten it was there.

He gripped the handle tightly and yanked the throwing knife out and tossing it over his shoulder, landing at the kunoichi's feet. He continued walking as the hole in his chest, from flesh to bone, closed up as he whistled a little tune.

* * *

**And so the second chapter is over. Read again, comment, eat a shoe. Do whatever you like. Hope ya keep reading! This is SitD, and I'm gonzo.**


	3. Chapter 2

Kakashi, Sakura, and Hinata stood on a hill overlooking a large town, or a small city depending on how you looked at it. "This is where the picture was taken?" Sakura asked. "Yes," Kakashi replied, "one of our Anbu members spotted him while on a mission that required traveling through this town and took a photo of Naruto." Hinata stared down at the town, "And how do we know that he wasn't just traveling through too?"

"When the Anbu finished their mission it also required travelling through this town again," Kakashi clarified, "and when they did Naruto was still here, doing the same thing he was when he was first spotted." The man glanced at his teammates, "That can at least mean that Naruto has visited this town multiple times, enough for us to pick up a trail. He might even live here." "Then what are we waiting for," Hinata asked before leaping down the hill to the town, followed by her teammates.

* * *

The team of Konoha ninja walked down a busy street through the middle of town as they searched for the MIA shinobi. They pushed through throngs of people as they waded against the tide of bodies, looking for the location of where the picture of the blond had taken.

"How are we even going to find this place, there is hardly anything in the picure to go on." said an exasperated Sakura as she fought to keep moving forward against the crowds. "There isn't even enough for me to go on," Hinata huffed, "and I have the Byakugan!" "You could still be looking for Naruto," Sakura said. "What do you think I've been doing?!" Hinata snapped as she turned her head sideways to glare at the girl, Byakugan active.

"Now, now, ladies," Kakashi sighed, "we have plenty to go on." Sakura turned to Kakashi and Hinata glanced out of the corner of her eye. Instead of speaking he pointed to a bar and they followed him in, getting a table in a lesser-populated section of the establishment.

"So what are we doing here," Hinata asked as she turned off the Byakugan and rubbed her tired eyes. "Don't you know," Kakashi asked, "bars are great places to meet and share information." He laid the picture of Naruto in the middle of the table and pointed out his surroundings, "From the looks of it, Naruto is at a restaurant that he has apparently visited on multiple occasions." "But we already knew that, sensei," Sakura said.

"Yes, we did," Kakashi agreed, "but take a look at what else is in the photo." Kakashi pointed to several other people, and even the street. He pointed out how worn down everything looked and said that this place was going to be in one of the more run-down parts of the city. Fortunately for them, this made up only a small part of this settlement, which meant their job wouldn't take even a fraction of the time it would if they had to search the entire city. They set out a few moments later, heading to the poorer sections of the town to begin their search anew.

* * *

After several hours of searching the slums of the city, the Konoha team found the place where the picture was taken.

"This is the place?" Hinata asked doubtfully. In front of them was a small restaurant stand, barely the size of Ichiraku, selling food that hardly even looked fit to be _near_, let alone eat. "This is the place alright," Kakashi affirmed, "let's hope that the owner is in the mood to talk to us about our friend." "Then what are we waiting for," Sakura asked. The group walked towards the stand, but drew to a sudden halt as they were confronted by something unexpected. Standing an equal distance away, garbed in shinobi cloaks, were a group of Kumo ninja.

"Thank you for leading us straight to our prey, Leaf-ninja, but we'll take it from here." The lead ninja said with a smug grin. The teams slid into combat ready stances almost simultaneously. "What are you after him for," asked Kakashi. "It's quite simple," the Kumo leader replied, "the man you are after is also wanted by Kumo. But I doubt it's for the same reason." "Which is?" Hinata growled. A bespectacled Kumo nin spoke up in a formal voice, "Our target is wanted for the murder of several Kumo ninja. The sole survivor of his unprovoked attack had to be taken off the active-duty roster to undergo therapy after the experience."

This was some rather unsettling information for the Konoha ninja. The Naruto they knew hardly even laid a finger on someone even after being provoked, to hear that he butchered a team of ninja for no reason and traumatized whosoever managed to survive was a hard pill to swallow.

"It's a lie!" Sakura accused coldly.

"It's the truth!" another member of the Kumo group yelled.

"It's Tacos!" yelled someone else.

The ninja all turned to the noise and disbelievingly watched the very person they'd been searching for walk right between their groups to the less than appealing food stand, looking like he was actually looking _forward_ to the meal. The blond-haired man turned with a bag full of grease-soaked food in hand with a smile and looked between the two silent groups of shinobi in confusion. "What?"

* * *

A plethora of thoughts ran through everyone's heads as nobody moved. _'Naruto?' 'No way.' 'So that's him.' 'Do I have something on my face?'_

Sakura spoke first, "Naruto, is that you?" The golden-haired man turned to the girl with a face lacking any emotion, "...".

The Kumo ninja, all with a look of loathing on their faces, slowly slid their assorted weapons out. "You are the one who killed a group of Kumo ninja several days ago," the leader said with a calm voice, eyes filled with a cold-hatred. Naruto now turned to the newest person who was apparently talking to him, "Yeah, so?"

Before another word could be spoken the leader of the enemy shinobi group slammed into the younger man and nearly flattened him as his body was sent flying. A heavy crash echoed as the boy's body slammed into the side of a building, completely buried in rubble. Hinata shot through the air like an arrow, a look of rage marring her features, and a lethal strike to the Kumo shinobi's throat was only just stopped by the sword of one of his subordinates. Lightning chakra crackled along the blade's length, making the already dangerous weapon even more so, but failed to cut through the girl's bare hand, shrouded in a chakra that was especially dense around her fingers.

The Hyuuga girl hardly glanced at the ninja as she grabbed his and, swinging her other hand up, cleaved it in two, her fingers sharp as daggers. The shinobi stumbled back, the rest of his comrades rushing to his aid, as the Konoha team collided with the Hidden Cloud ninja. Hinata was swiping at anything within reach of her with limbs that could hack through steel. Sakura was slower, almost clumsy, in comparison with her teammate's swift grace, but anything or anyone foolish enough to close in on the pink-haired kunoichi was swatted aside as if they were mere pests. Kakashi engaged the head Kumo ninja in a lightning battle that left the air sizzle and crack around them.

* * *

Nearly forgotten in the frenzy, the very reason they came lay buried beneath a pile of rubble, what hadn't been broken by the blow that sent him flying had when he hit the wall. The boy lay there, still alive and conscious through all the excruciating pain and in the foulest mood he'd been in all week, but he wasn't upset about being so injured. "I was looking forward to eating that," Naruto muttered.

He lay there and listened to the sounds of battle as he felt each of his ruptured blood vessels close-up the openings, his torn muscles crawl back together under his skin, and his broken bones reconnect as if they had wills of their own. In under a minute the unmoving man had felt all the damages done to his body come to life and move beneath the surface as they were mended under their own power. When it all stopped he shifted the rubble off of him slowly and looked out as the shinobi fought amongst themselves. He spotted the large man who'd sent him through the air fighting another ninja. The blond shifted under his stony cover until he grasped a knife, "You're first."

If you had blinked, then you would've missed what happened next.

* * *

The Hidden Leaf ninja were evenly matched with their counterparts, matching each other blow-for-blow, when the pile of rubble that covered their fomer-friend suddenly exploded violently. The two groups of startled shinobi immediately separated at the noise as a shroud of pulverized rock flew out.

As the two teams shot away from each other, the leader of the group of Hidden Cloud ninja was suddenly covered in blood. Naruto stood in the center of the street, half of his form hidden by the dust that was kicked up. But the blade in his hand, blood dripping from every part of the weapon, practically glowed red.

The Kumo squad leader desperately tried to hold the wound together, but it was far too massive to hold closed. The cut started on the back of the left hand, just behind the knuckle of the middle finger, and traveled along the arm all the way to the shoulder before veering inwards and cutting across his chest, just under the collarbone, and stopped when it reached the sternum. The wound missed every possible spot that would kill the man, but it didn't matter with an injury of that size.

A Hidden Cloud kunoichi reached out and tried to help stop the bleeding, but that was a lot of blood. "How are you not hurt at all," the wounded shinobi snarled, "You should be dead." Naruto looked genuinely baffled by this information, "Am I?" He glanced down at his bloody clothes and patted over the tears in the fabric before shrugging it off.

"You bastard," the injured man strained before he fell to his knees. Naruto tapped his chin in contemplation as the rest of the Kumo team helped their commander to his feet, "You know, I had a thought." He casually walked towards them, twirling the knife in hand. "You can stay, in which case you'll die; or you can... what's the word? Ah, order a 'tactical retreat, or something.'"

He stopped a meter away from them as he stared an entire squad of trained killers down like they were no more interesting than an insect. A particlularly annoying insect. He put on big grin for them, "But please, by all means stay. I'm sure we'll get along _just_ fine"

The Kumo leader weighed his options carefully, "We're pulling out." His squad members barely said a word in protest and left in short order, leaving a visibly upset Naruto behind. "Hey, wait a minute, was it something I said?" He huffed and turned towards the silent group of Konoha ninja, eyes narrowing into malicious slits as he set his sights on them. "And as for you."

The squad of former friends felt something cold slither up their spines at those words. Naruto raised his knife and pointed straight at them, blood still dripping from the handle. "You're buying me a new lunch."

* * *

**'_Is he serious_,' they thought as one.**

**A stray wind blew through the street, kicking up some of the loosened dust and carrying a tumbleweed.**

**The three ninja continued staring at him as the blond now watched the tumbleweed bounce by. After it was out of sight he turned to them once more, "I wasn't the only one who saw the tumbleweed, right?"**

**They remained silent, frustrating the man. "Oh, come on! People think I'm weird enough without me seeing tumbleweeds now."**

* * *

**That was just a little humor for ya. I might do more. See ya.**


End file.
